Microwave cooking has long been employed to conveniently and quickly cook comestibles, such as comestibles stored at ambient, refrigerated or frozen temperatures. A common disadvantage of microwave cooking of foods and beverages is uneven heating throughout the container. For instance, the outer edges of a food product typically heat faster than the center of the food product. It would therefore be desirable to provide a way to prevent microwaves from acting on selected areas of a product placed in a microwave oven. By preventing or reducing the amount of microwave energy that reaches the product, the amount of energy that is absorbed by the product can be influenced, thus controlling the rate of heating of the product.
Various previous efforts to provide shielding of microwave energy from portions of a container increased the risk for arcing or sparking during microwave cooking, due to the use and configuration of metallic shielding material with microwave containers. In addition, microwave containers for foodstuffs typically include instructions for consumers regarding microwave timing and power, as well as whether or not to peel back or puncture the lidding. However, not all consumers read or follow the instructions precisely, and altering the location of some microwave shielding elements may result in a potentially dangerous configuration of shielding elements. Thus, it would be desirable to provide microwave shielded containers that do not pose a risk of arcing or sparking even if the consumer does not completely comply with the instructions.